Swine Flu??

Okay so is anyone else freaking out about this new swine flu or is it just me...everyday or even hour that I go on the internet they are talking about more and more people dying or coming down with this. It is spreading like wildfire. They are all saying it is not cause for alarm yet...yeah right. I think they are just trying to cover their ass. I worry most about my kids. Thank god they are not in daycare but we still frequently visit kid filled places and it seems now like everyone everywhere is at risk. Someone next to you could cough or sneeze and they could have it and just not know and boom you are infected which spreads to your family, neighborhood etc. At what point do we panic? Our Governor just declared a State of Emergency for California due to the swine flu and they dont think it is time for panic??? They say this could turn into a pandemic.....HELLO>>> anyone know the definition of a PANDEMIC.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a pandemic can start when three conditions have been met:[1]
Emergence of a disease new to a population.
Agents infect humans, causing serious illness.
Agents spread easily and sustainably among humans.
A disease or condition is not a pandemic merely because it is widespread or kills many people; it must also be infectious. For instance, cancer is responsible for many deaths but is not considered a pandemic, because the disease is not infectious or contagious

Yes, I think it is time to get serious and the press stop writing this off as no big deal. People in the US are starting to die from this. I would say that it is a big deal. Here is a link to a government web site that has a great checklist for families and individuals to prepare for this...anyone else worried about this..let me know. http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/individual/index.html

Tahoe here we come.....

So tomorrow we leave for Squaw Valley Ski Resort, the 2nd largest ski resort in the US. Julie is going to try her hand at Skiing for the very 1st time.....Kaitlyn is dying to try to, but you have to be 3, so she will have to wait until next year. As for Julie, that is all she can talk about. So the kids and I will drive up tomorrow, have some fun in the snow, stay at a hotel and then daddy will either come up tomorrow night or Sunday morn( all depending on how much time he spends in San Fran for the big stamp show!! ...all in all I think it should be a great time. The kids have been asking to go to the snow and we are almost out of time before the snow melts. Julie is also on the verge of losing her 2 front bottom teeth. I can't believe how big she is getting and how fast she is growing up. Her last day of Pre-K is May 29th and then it is on to kindergarten ....OMG!!

In other news, I saw the podiatrist today and it is back to wearing my walking cast for another 5 weeks, physical therapy 2x per week and 24/7 medication patches on my foot...you got to be kidding me....lol.

Well hopefully we will get out of the high 90's for awhile, because I can't imagine having that cast on in this heat....if that happens it is going to be a very very long summer.

The state of the world

Do realize that everyday this world gets more and more scary. Scary for us, scary for our kids....I am really down today. 2 weeks ago a little 8 yr old girl was skipping down the road in front of her house and disappeared. Police and search teams looked everywhere for her, including a room by room search of 3 local hotels. Yesterday they found her body stuffed inside a suitcase in an irrigation canal wearing the same clothes as when she disappeared. What the hell is wrong with people. What kind of freak gets off from taking and killing a little girl. She was only 3 years older then Julie and she only lived like 4 hrs from here.

What happened to the days when you could be a kid and play outside and walk to your friends house or the park and be gone all day having fun and just being a kid. Now it is like we have to lock our kids in the backyard to play. It is getting so bad, that I worry about sending Julie to public school soon. How do you know a weirdo isn't waiting around there. I know it isn't good to be to overly cautious and paranoid, but at what point can you stop being so. It is a scary scary world out there and a place where our kids cant even be kids anymore.....so very sad.